THE  PROPOSED 
HENRY  HUDSON  MONUMENT 

SPUYTEN  DUYVIL,   BRONX  BOROUGH 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


tx  HibrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


Hon.  JOHN  J.  BRADY,  Chairman 
AUGUSTUS  W.  SCHLEMMER,  Secretary 
Telephone,  2044  Tremont 

Hon.  JAS.  L.  WELLS, 
Chairman  Plan  and  Scope  Committee 

Hon.  GEO.  M.  S.  SCHULZ, 
Vice-Chairman  Plan  and  Scope  Committee 


CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE 
OF    THE     BOROUGH    OF    THE  BRONX 

BRONX  BUILDING 

N.    E.   COR.   177th    Street    and    Third  Avenue 


Sub  Committee  on  Dedication 
of  the  Henry  Hudson  Monument 

FRANK  D.  WILSEY,  Chairman 
ADOLPH  C.  HOTTENROTH,  Secretary 
HENRY  RUHL,  M.D.,  Treasurer 
HENRY  KROGER 
Hon.  JOSEPH  A.  GOULDEN 
H.  B.  CHAMBERS,  Acting  Secretary 


New  York,  August  27th,  1909, 

Dear 

We  are  sending  you  enclosed  a  pamphlet  referring  to  the  proposed 
HENRY  HUDSON  MONUMENT  to  be  erected  at  an  appropriate  historical 
site  chosen  by  the  City  authorities. 

The  Committee  is  desirous  of  having  the  balance  of  the  necessary 
amount  for  its  construction  contributed  prior  to  the  commencement 
of  the  celebration. 

According  to  the  official  program,  the  oorner  stone  of  the 
monument,  in  which  a  roll  of  the  names  of  all  of  the  subscribers  will 
be  deposited,  is  to  he  laid  on  September  27th,  1909,  at  3  o'clock 
p.m.,  with  appropriate  ceremony,  to  whioh  all  subscribers  will  be 
invited,  so  that  you  will  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  contribute  toward 
this  most  worthy  purpose. 

The  Committee  is  desirous  of  securing  as  large  a  number  of 
subscribers  as  possible,  and  will  gratefully  acknowledge  subscrip- 
tions, large  or  small,  through  the  public  press,  and  will  also  issue 
to  each  subscriber  of  $6,00  or  over,  a  handsomely  embossed  and  engraved 
certificate  of  membership  in  the  Henry  Hudson  Monument  Associatior. , 
which  will  be  one  of  the  most  unique  souvenirs  of  the  celebration. 

The  subscriptions  should  be  sent  to  HENRY  RUHL,  M.D.,  of  Ho.  050 
East  164th  Street,  Bronx,  who  is  the  Treasurer  of  the  Committee, 
in  the  envelope  enclosed  herewith,  together  with  the  blank  enclosed 
properly  filled  out* 

Very  truly  yours, 

(FRANK  D.   WILSEY,  Chairman 

(ADOLPH  C.  HOTTENROTH,  Secretary 
COMMITTEE:    (HENRY  RUHL,  M.D. ,  Treasurer 
(HENRY  KROGER 
(JOSEPH  A.  GOULDEN 
(H.  E.  CHAMBERS,  Acting  Secretary 

2  Encls. 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 

http://archive.org/details/dedicationceremoOOciti 


DEDICATION  CEREMONIES 

IN   CONNECTION   WITH   THE   ERECTION   OF  THE 

Hudson-Fulton  Monument 

AS   A   FEATURE   OF  THE 

HUDSON-FULTON  CELEBRATION 

CORNER   STONE   TO   BE  LAID 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-SEVENTH 
Nineteen  Hundred  and  Nine 

AT  TWO  O'CLOCK 

I 

AT  SITE  OF  MONUMENT,  SPUYTEN  DUYVIL,  BRONX 
CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

SEE  MAP   ON    PAGE    3    SHOWING    HOW   TO    REACH   THE  SITE 


MAP  SHOWING  HOW  TO  REACH  SITE  OF  HENRY  HUDSON  MONUMENT 
SPUYTEN  DUYVIL,  BRONX,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


HENRY  HUDSON 


HREE  centuries  ago,  HENRY  HUDSON,  an 
Englishman  in  the  employ  of  the  great  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  intent  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  a  Northeast  passage  to  India,  was 
on  his  way  on  the  Atlantic  toward  America. 
It  was  on  Wednesday,  September  2d,  1609,  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  according  to  Robert  Juet's  Journal,  that 
Hudson's  ship,  the  "HALF  MOON,"  dropped  her  anchor 
off  Sandy  Hook. 

After  lying  at  anchor  in  the  lower  Bay  for  ten  days, 
Hudson  ventured  to  steer  the  "  HALF  MOON  "  up  between 
the  Narrows,  September  12th,  1609,  and  the  mate's  log  book 
records  a  journey  of  two  leagues,  or  six  miles.  If  that  measure- 
ment began  at  the  Narrows,  the  "  HALF  MOON  "  must  have 
dropped  anchor  about  opposite  Castle  William,  between  Gover- 
nors Island  and  Liberty  Island.  Drifting  with  the  tide,  eleven 
and  one-half  miles  were  made  up  river  on  September  13th,  and 
this  would  have  carried  the  explorers  about  as  far  as  Spuyten 
Duyvil  Creek,  the  Northerly  boundary  of  Manhattan  Island. 

After  sailing  up  the  river,  very  nearly  to  the  head  of  navi- 
gation, he  turned  down  on  September  23d,  and  on  October  2d, 
the  "  HALF  MOON  "  again  cast  anchor  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  site  upon  which  it  is  proposed  to  erect  a  lasting  monument, 
to  commemorate  his  name,  and  particularly  to  recall  the  discovery 
and  exploration  of  the  great  River  which  has  made  a  City,  like 
the  present  GREATER  NEW  YORK,  possible. 


His  was  the  first  ship  to  sail  from  New  York  direct  for 
Europe,  the  precursor  of  an  innumerable  fleet,  and  of  craft*  as 
strangely  different  from  her  as  human  imagination  could  then 
well  conceive. 

This  voyage  resulted  from  an  interest  in  arctic  exploration 
revived  in  1608  to  such  a  degree,  by  the  agitation  of  a  few 
enthusiasts,  that  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  then  six  years 
old,  and  reveling  in  a  return  of  seventy-five  per  cent,  on  their 
investments,  were  prevailed  upon  to  set  aside  a  single  vessel  for 
the  purpose  of  discovering  a  short  and  easy  passage  to  their 
East  Indian  possessions  by  way  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  North  of 
Europe  and  Asia. 

Hut  no  Captain  of  the  Dutch  Merchant  or  Naval  Service 
had  at  that  time  gained  any  experience  of  navigation  in  those 
frozen  waters. 

HENRY  HUDSON,  an  Englishman,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  obtained  some  fame  by  voyages  to  the  White  Sea  and 
further  North.  He,  therefore,  came  to  Amsterdam  on  the  invi- 
tation of  those  who  were  interested  in  the  subject  of  the 
Northeast  passage. 

Even  then,  the  astute  representative  of  HENRY  IV.  of 
France,  in  Holland  would  have  captured  the  explorer  and  his 
expedition,  had  not  the  Dutch  Merchants  found  it  out,  and 
promptly  closed  the  bargain  with  Hudson  on  January  8th,  1609; 
and  early  in  April,  Hudson  set  sail  from  Amsterdam  in  the 
"  HALF  MOON,"  a  frail  little  craft  for  such  an  enterprise,  as 
we  would  think  now,  of  eighty  ton  burden. 

It  was  within  view  of  the  location  of  the  monument  that 
the  historical  conflict  for  the  possession  of  the  lands  which  now 
embrace  the  second  largest  City  on  earth,  between  the  Indians 
and  the  white  men  took  place,  and  it  was  here  also  that  General 
Washington  caused  the  erection  of  Fort  No.  1,  for  the  defense 
of  the  Hudson. 


It  is,  therefore,  quite  meet  and  appropriate  that  this  spot 
was  selected  as  the  location  of  the  proposed  monument  to  the 
memory  of  the  first  explorer  of  the  River  bearing  his  name. 

One  of  the  first  projects  that  was  considered  by  the  Com- 
mission, authorized  by  the  State  to  take  charge  of  the  Celebration 
to  be  held  next  fall,  was  to  suggest  the  building  of  the  HENRY 
HUDSON  MEMORIAL  BRIDGE,  crossing  from  Inwood 
Hill  to  Spuyten  Duyvil. 

At  the  Northerly  approach  to  this  proposed  bridge,  the 
City  has  recently  acquired  land  which  was  designated  as  a 
suitable  site  both  from  the  historical  and  esthetic  standpoint  for 
the  proposed  monument. 

On  Independence  Day  of  this  year,  ground  was  broken, 
with  appropriate  ceremony,  and  the  foundation  is  now  in  course 
of  construction. 

The  proposed  monument,  a  picture  of  which  is  on  the 
cover  of  this  pamphlet,  was  officially  adopted  as  a  part  of 
the  Celebration  Program  on  March  24th,  1909. 

This  monument  will  be  located  on  an  elevation  of  two  hun- 
dred feet,  and  will  be  in  the  shape  of  a  fluted  doric  column  one 
hundred  feet  in  height,  making  a  total  of  three  hundred  feet 
above  the  Sea  ;  this  altitude  being  emblematic  of  the  three 
centuries  which  have  passed  since  the  discovery  was  made,  and 
the  height  of  one  hundred  feet  being  significent  and  suggestive 
of  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since  ROBERT  FULTON 
plied  its  waters  with  the  world  renowned  "CLERMONT." 

On  this  column  will  be  a  statue  of  HENRY  HUDSON, 
about  twenty  feet  in  height,  making  a  grand  total  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  rendering  the  statue  visible,  when 
lighted  as  contemplated,  from  almost  every  section  of  Greater 
New  York. 

Mr.  CARL  BITTER  will  model  the  statue.  On  the 
square  base  on  which  the  column  rests  will  be  a  tablet  by 


Mr.  HENRY  M.  SHRADY.  The  column  itself  and  the 
base  were  designed  by  Mr.  WALTER  COOK.  These  men 
are  renowned  and  famous  in  their  several  avocations. 

This  monument  is  to  be  erected  entirely,  and  paid  for,  by 
public  subscription. 

The  Sub-Committee  on  the  HENRY  HUDSON 
MONUMENT  of  the  CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE  OF 
THE  BOROUGH  OF  THE  BRONX  has  been  officially 
designated  to  receive  subscriptions  in  any  amount,  a  preference 
being  had  for  a  large  number  of  small  subscriptions,  so  that 
everybody  who  reveres  and  respects  the  memory  of  HENRY 
HUDSON  may  participate  and  join  in  the  erection  of  this 
lasting  tribute. 

The  estimated  cost  of  the  monument  and  foundations  is 
the  sum  of  One  Hundred  Thousand  (J  100,000.00)  Dollars, 
of  which  practically  twenty-five  per  cent,  has  already  been 
subscribed. 

This  monument  is  a  feature  of  the  Celebration  which  takes 
place  next  fall  which  will  be  of  a  lasting  and  permanent  char- 
acter, and  it  might  well  be  esteemed  a  privilege  to  contribute 
toward  the  same. 

A  model  of  the  monument  is  on  exhibition  at  Hegeman's 
Drug  Store,  Corner  of  Third  Avenue  and  149th  Street. 

FRANK  D.  WILSEY 
HENRY  RUHL,  M.D. 
ADOLPH  C.  HOTTENROTH 
HENRY  KROGER 
JOSEPH  A.  GOULDEN 

Official  Committee. 


